after the update to 10.9.4 it is optimizing your mac how long should this take?

I've never seen it on my Mac, but it is just a notification. Click the close button on the notification. It has likely finished already.

I have gotten that notice twice after updating, and I hoped and prayed that Mac, who has been so user friendly so far, would have not offered a "close" button unless it was safe to close that message. But then there's another thread in apple discussions (I don't know how to link to it here) (Re: after the update to 10.9.4 it is optimizing your mac how long should this take?), that warns you should wait until that little window goes away or you have to re-install Maverick. It took me 12 hours to download Maverick. I really would rather not go through that again. Have I damaged my Mac by clicking "close" on that notice? Thanks!

Are you sure is wasn't that Spotlight was reindexing your hard drive. If that's what it was then just ignore it until it completes its' indexing of the files. The Mac may be a bit slower during the reindexing but will speed up when it's done.

I googled "Spotlight" and "reindexing," and followed the instructions to "reindex", but there was nothing in my "privacy" tab to reindex. Please explain how your answer relates to the "optimizing your mac" notice? I don't understand. Thank you.

Just inquiring if the message really wasn't about reindexing rather than optimizing. The reindexing is a more common message.

Do you have a backup you can restore from so you won't have to download it?

Old Toad: I'm sorry, I just don't know what you are asking, or how to respond to your post.

Eric Root: The genius bar wiped out my hard drive recently, and had me restart from my backup drive. I'm not sure if I am explaining that correctly, but is that what you mean by a backup? If so, then yes, I have a backup, but since I recently wiped out my hard drive and restored it from backup, would I need to do that again just to get rid of a hopefully harmless notification whose only option is "close"? I clicked on "close" and as far as I can tell nothing bad has happened. And I am getting that same notification after an update even after I have wiped out/restored my hard disk.

Has anyone else run into any problems when they click "close" on that notification? If I have done anything harmful to my computer by clicking on "close" I haven't noticed the harm. I would like to know if anyone has actually harmed their computer by clicking "close" on that message. Thanks!